Stratford Dems, GOP pick slates for Nov. election

Updated 6:22 pm, Friday, July 24, 2015

Indiann Harden, whose husband, David, is running for the 4th District Town Council seat in Stratford, Connecticut, gets a picture on her cell phone of all of the Democratic Town Council candidates at the Democratic Town Committee meeting on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. David Harden is at the far left. less

Indiann Harden, whose husband, David, is running for the 4th District Town Council seat in Stratford, Connecticut, gets a picture on her cell phone of all of the Democratic Town Council candidates at the ... more

STRATFORD — This is stacking up as one of the most closely watched and hotly contested Town Council races in years as voters go to the polls not only to pick a new council, but also to decide the fate of the ownership of the waste treatment plant at the foot of Birdseye Street.

Town Council elections like this one in which there’s no mayoral race are usually humdrum affairs with turnouts that are less than 25 percent.

But this year the Democrats say that they’re energized by what they see as increased discontent with the heavily Republican makeup of all the elected boards and commissions.

To make matters worse for Republicans, there will be a referendum on election day, Nov. 3, to decide whether the town should hang onto its waste treatment plant or sell it to the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority and become a member of that regional authority in the process.

The Facebook-fueled group pushing to kill the sale idea, WPCA: Get Answers, is seen as largely Democratic.

More Information

Democratic Town Council Candidates:

Council District 1: Beth Daponte

District 2: Neil Sherman

District 3: Wally Kadeem

District 4: David L. Harden

District 5: Joseph Gresko

District 6: Phil Young

District 7: Sean Haubert

District 8: Tom Haggerty

District 9: Mark Juliano

District 10: Tina Manus

Democratic Zoning Commission Candidates

Planning District 1: Joyce Pastor

Planning District 2: Stephanie Philips

Democratic Planning Commission Candidates

Planning Dist. 1: Jim Vigliotti

Planning Dist. 2: Pat Patuski

Democratic Zoning Board of Appeals Candidates

Planning Dist. 4: Peter Marin

Planning Dist. 5: Ron Hojdich

Democratic Board of Education Candidates

Vinny Fagella

Eric Lazaro

Maria Buturla

Democratic Constables

Dick Brown

Richard Brown Jr.

Ed Monroe

Frank Bevacqua

Republican Town Council Candidates:

District 1: Chris Barnaby

District 2: James F. Wiltsie

District 3: Jacqueline Davidson

District 4: Ed Scinto

District 5: John M. Dempsey

District 6: Ken Poisson

District 7: Gavin B. Forrester III

District 8: J. Vincent Chase

District 9: Alan Llewelyn

District 10: Michael F. Henrick

Republican Zoning Commission Candidates

Planning Dist. 1: Rich Fredette

Planning Dist. 2: Jason Santi

Republican Planning Commission Candidates

Planning Dist. 1: Mike Julian

Planning Dist. 2: Victor Ayala

Republican Zoning Board of Appeals Candidates

Planning Dist. 4: David D’Ausilio

Planning Dist. 5: John Sturmer

Republican Board of Education Candidates

Susan Lance

Jennifer Falotico

Jason Santi

Republican Constables

Paul Mathewson

Robert Connolly

Ed Scinto

John Dobos

Of the 33 elected positions in town, including the mayor’s seat (not including constables), 26 are now occupied by Republicans.

“I think that my race will be close,” said 5th District Democratic candidate Joe Gresko. “Turnout will be the key — four years ago in the fifth, only 475 people voted, out of an electorate of about 2,500. So turnout is everything.”

Indeed: In 2011, the last time there was a local election without the mayor candidates running, only 21.5 percent of the 32,000 registered voters bothers to vote.

Political observers say that a high turnout would help the Democrats, while a lackluster turnout could benefit the GOP. Still, Republicans say they’re up to the challenge.

“I’ll be knocking on doors and saying hello to people,” said 10th District Republican candidate Michael F. Henrick. “It’s really easy to say ‘no,’ but it takes a true leader to find creative solutions that work, and I did that when I was council chairman.”

He said that he’s foursquare behind Mayor John Harkins on the waste treatment plant sale.

“This will be a big issue this time around,” Henrick said. “But without it, you’ll see your taxes go up a thousand dollars and we’ll have to make cuts everywhere, including the schools.”

To that, Democrats say the gloom-and-doom predictions if the sale is scuttled are overstated. They also say Harkins did a bad job of explaining the sale plant to the town, something some Republicans say they can agree with.

“The WPCA issue has brought a lot of things to light on how the town is being run,” said Phil Young, who’s running as a Democrat in the 6th District. “A lot of the mayor’s idea I can applaud, but you have to open it up to the people so that we know what he wants to do, and no one on the Town Council seems to want to listen.”

Since Harkins took the mayor’s seat in December 2009 he’s enjoyed smooth sledding, with his plans mostly falling on agreeable ears.

“It’ll be a very interesting campaign,” said 2nd District Democratic candidate Neil Sherman, a former chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. “We have a broken government and it needs to be fixed, with no planned economic development.”

The Republican candidates can claim more experience in Town Hall matters, but Democrats say that that the electorate might be just as willing to clean house this time around.

“My opponent, Gavin Forrester, although he’s been on the council and other boards, might not be as well-known as his party thinks,” said 7th District Democratic candidate Sean Haubert. “When I go door-to-door, no one seem to know him.”

Republican candidates say that whatever the turnout, they’ll still prevail.

To be sure, not all of those opposed to the waste treatment plant sale are Democrats. One-half of the plaintiffs who took the town to court over the referendum issue are members of Stratford's RTC (core republicans), as was their attorney Ben Proto.

The DTC met Wednesday night at Stanziales Restaurant; the RTC met the following evening in the Mill River County Club clubhouse.

The town is divided up into 10 council districts; there are also five planning districts for the planning, zoning and zoning appeal boards. Town Council members and constables have two-year terms; the other elected seats have four-year stints.